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Ramona Grasslands Preserve
Is there a way for those with highly limited capacities for walking to enjoy this privilege?— December 31, 2012 8:32 p.m.
SD middle class vanishing
Waal, Don, methinks the laddie doth protest too much. But that's as it should be. Richard Feynman seems to be an example of a true genius who didn't need no publicity agent. "You are what your publicity says you are" is the old cynical saw about show biz. Some have so much talent that they can't avoid "making it to the top;" others kiss enough ass or screw their way to the top, and others care only about getting better and better. Those are maintained by those like you who spread the word about your discoveries. Hint! But think of those outliers who have been, figuratively and literally (or should I say "virtually?") burned at the stake for their heresy. Then there are those who are crucified, stoned because of jealousy or envy on the part of those who hold the high ground, as in academia, for example. Then there is pure pig-headedness (my apologies to real pigs) . . . and the list goes on. The lesson of all of this is that it's all about THE WORK, the art, NOT about the ego. I await your list of the unknown greats . . .— December 22, 2012 10:03 a.m.
Eat Around the World at Hanna's Gourmet
Good! Zero comments on this piece means that my secret may be kept just a little longer. I don't know all of Hannah's story, but it must be an interesting one. If I understood her correctly, she came to the USA from Ethiopia and Eritrea--a part of the world about which most of us know so little and the media leaves us with the impression that it is nothing but famine and war, and a beaten landscape. Any country that can produce a woman with this much talent is one which I regret I have never visited--except maybe through reading about the Blue Nile. It is true that this country has suffered, and has continued to suffer--at the hands of foreign exploiters like England and Italy. Like most true Africans, the people of this region, though quite different in some ways from those in southern Africa that can produce true and wise men like Mandela and Tutu, I have found to be quite gentle and possessed of an incredible capacity for enduring hardship without a whimper and coming out of it with their dignity intact. These, like some other immigrants in our history, can teach US so much, without lectures and with their quiet dignity, how to be better and better Americans. People like Hannah have made their "American Dream" the old-fashioned way--by EARNING it, and earning it by providing goods and services that provide VALUE for value (or money) received. In Hannah's case, she gives much more value for a relative pittance than the big, pretentious kitchens which get rich on at least as much publicity-agents as on the quality of their product. While I wish Hannah success (she already is highly successful as a human being), but not so much that she is tempted to work harder and get bigger. She's my little secret, and I hope I'll still be able to find a parking place close enough (I failed in this effort recently) to continue to eat her wonderful food from around the world at least once a week. I hope she keeps her independent schedule that I hope gives her enough time off to enjoy that balance that most of us yearn for--work at something we love to do, treat others as we wish to be treated, and make enough money through honest toil to provide the basic necessities of life rather than believe the fiction that the "American Dream" is excessive possessions to brag about or winning the lottery. How much "immigrants" can teach us!— December 22, 2012 9:47 a.m.
SD middle class vanishing
Yeah, that is pretty funny, but let me observe that "outliers" is where the action is. Visualize that curve oscillating back and forth as it moves forward. Every genius was and is an outlier. Some are more glib than others and some have better publicists.— December 17, 2012 8:08 p.m.
Harsh Words for RV Driver at Liberty Station
Not all asocial people commit mass murder, but it takes an asocial personality to do it. That puts the indifferent in bad company. Causing pain or death unnecessarily or raising hell because you have been inconvenienced is prima facie evidence of the quality of your being--at least at that moment. I've done it, but I take no pride in it. We've all done things we'd like to take back, but when we keep on whining about the things that don't meet our standards of perfection, we are adding to our misery--and to everybody else's who is affected. So the frizzy-haired guy ain't perfuct. Maybe he lost his mansion and it's all he's got in which to live. Maybe he has an injury, is ill, or infirm for a number of reasons. Maybe he is a desperate loner growing more and more desperate by the hour. What good does it do to hurt him?— December 17, 2012 8:01 p.m.
Harsh Words for RV Driver at Liberty Station
The privileged classes (including the middle class) have a mean streak when it comes to those less fortunate than themselves. It may be linked to some hard-wired response like chickens and pigeons pecking the sick to death, or it may be pure, learned self-righteousness and gang behavior. And there are just jerks who are greatly offended at the slightest inconvenience or "imperfection" in their environment. This is why it's called the goddamned human race . . .— December 16, 2012 6:05 a.m.
SD middle class vanishing
!Ay, seguro que si!— December 16, 2012 5:58 a.m.
UCAN: Misspelled Accounts Add Up
Has he?— December 16, 2012 5:54 a.m.
Mary Hoffman takes on CPUC
What's the latest?— December 15, 2012 7:21 p.m.
Will Work for Food
The street is dangerous. If anybody wants something to eat, I'll feed them what they want. But digging for cash while driving is problematical.— December 15, 2012 7:20 p.m.